All Mimsy

parislemon:

This is a great post by Danny Sullivan. For those of us caught up in the iOS vs. Android battle, it can be easy to lose sight of the simple, bigger picture.

Android may be “open” in the fact that other companies can use the source code and users who so desire (and know how) can root it. But from a pure consumer perspective, the Android phone ecosystem is often anything but open. It’s a huge fucking nightmare — as has been showcased once again by the release of Ice Cream Sandwich.

How weird is it that Google just released a new flagship OS and is going on and on about how great it is, but the vast majority of users have absolutely no access to it? Worse, most have absolutely no clue when — or if — they’ll ever have access to it. This sounds like pretty much the opposite of being “open” to me.

Even stranger, this even includes the devices given Google’s own stamp of approval. Writes Sullivan:

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Classic Google “Don’t be evil” … love the folksy “Of course.” in answer to second question … but in a paranoid moment (after visiting Crunchbase, imagining that our whole social exisitence is being managed by billionaire Eastern European angel investors) do we really believe “Once the job is complete, the document is deleted from our servers.” … is that even possible? 

Google Cloud Print and your privacy

Q. What information is shared with Google when I use Google Cloud Print?
A. There are three categories of information shared with Google when you use Google Cloud Print - information about the jobs you send for printing, the documents themselves, and server logs created from each request you make to the Google Cloud Print service.

Q. Can you explain more about these three categories of information?
A. Of course. Google keeps information about the print job in question (the job title, the printer you sent it to, printer status information) as a record, along with your Google Account ID. We need this information in order to process the jobs you send for printing, and to allow you (and only you) to view and edit your printing history through the Google Cloud Print dashboard.
Google also keeps a copy of each document you send for printing - but only for so long as the printing job is active and not complete. We have to do this to make sure your document gets printed. Once the job is complete, the document is deleted from our servers.
Finally, our servers also keep logs of the requests made by all of the Google Cloud Print users. These are routine server logs and do not contain any personal information. You can read more about how Google treats server log data.

Q. Do you keep copies of all the documents I send to print?
A. Yes, but only for so long as the printing job is active and not complete. We have to do this to make sure your document gets printed. Once the job is complete, the document is deleted from our servers.

Q. Does Google keep a record of what documents I have printed using Google Cloud Print?
A. Yes. Google keeps information about the print job in question (the job title, the printer you sent it to, printer status information) as a record, along with your Google Account ID. We need this information in order to process the jobs you send for printing, and to allow you to view and edit your printing history through the Google Cloud Print dashboard.

Q. Can I delete records from my history of using Cloud Print?
A. Absolutely. You can see and edit these records through the Google Cloud Print dashboard at any time.

Q. Does Google look at the contents of documents I send to print? Are they kept confidential?
A. Documents you send to print are your personal information and are kept strictly confidential. Google does not access the documents you print for any purpose other than to improve printing.